When the so-called “biggest car in the world” was unveiled in 1931 it caused quite the stir. Studebaker, one of the USA’s leading car manufacturers at the time, was behind this mammoth motor.
The giant Studebaker was built by a group of sixty employees at the Studebaker Experimental Body Department located in South Bend, Indiana. The massive size Studebaker took over three months to build and was generated by Mr. Paul Auman and his creative craftsmen design team.
The total length of the car was 41 feet long with a wheelbase of 325 inches. It was 13 ½ feet high, 15 feet wide, and weight 5 ½ tons. The steering wheel was 44 inches in diameter and the oval shaped headlights were 33 ½ inches of size. The wire wheels were the most abundant to make for each one was 6 feet and 8 inches in diameter, weighing 600lbs each. The Firestone Tire Company supplied the enormous tires for the project and replicated the original Studebaker tires. The massive Studebaker model was built of wood and was shaped and assembled on the test track of the Indiana Proving Grounds. The model was painted in two shades of green, which at the time, was a popular color for Studebaker models.
To advertise the giant Studebaker model, a nine minute film was created. The film clip was used as a filler for the movie Wild Flowers directed by Mr. Alf Goulding. The film was also used for publicity reasons and had played extensively in RKO theaters coast to coast for movie goers in which many consumers thoroughly enjoyed generating a great deal of publicity.
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